Disneyland 2010!

Yes, it has been way too long since I have blogged. I can blame it on being in charge of the PTA fundraiser in September, October, and November....then the holidays are to blame after that. Then the New Year and getting ready to go to Disneyland on January 9th.....yup, it's not my fault I haven't been able to blog! ;)

But, I do finally have something really fabulous to blog about....Disneyland!! (Not that Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas aren't fabulous.....just ya know....there was no time!)

BUT....

I. LOVE. DISNEYLAND.

Truly, Truly, the Happiest Place on Earth.....well, and Sea World is right there with it, but we just did Disneyland this time and we had so much fun!

We drove to Vegas on Saturday and then into Anaheim on Sunday. We went to Disneyland Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Sam's favorite rides were Pirates of the Caribbean (he could have gone on that one all day) Toy Story in California Adventure and Buzz Light Year. He tried Matter Horn and DID NOT like it!

Ben's favorite rides were Pirates, Toy Story, and Buzz (Ben likes whatever Sam likes) although Ben did try some big rides like Matter Horn, Space Mountain, and Tower of Terror....he liked Matter Horn....we won't talk about the other two!

My favorite rides were Space Mountain and California Screamin. My favorite ride to go on with the kids was Toy Story. That is a GREAT ride!

Joe's favorite rides were Space Mountain and California Screamin.....he just told me that his most favorite though was the Scary Adventures of Snow White :)

Such strong MEN to protect the only female in the household!

Mom and her boys!

We went with my family and all the cousins had so much fun together. We are missing little Ella, she is asleep in the stroller you can see off to the side.

Now, I wish I could say that Ben always cooperated for pictures, but most of the time he DID NOT want his picture taken!

Dang....I just really wanted a picture with Micky and my boys, but Ben WOULD NOT cooperate and Jonas was in charge of bringing Jack to me so that he could be in the picture......obviously, the husband has a hard time cooperating too!

Tarzan's Tree House. Ella did not like this picture spot!

Kyle, Kaleb, and Katie

I realized after looking through my pictures that I didn't have any pictures of my other family members besides this one! Sorry Mom, Heidi, and Dan......I was not a good picture taker on this trip. I am sad I don't have more of all of you!

Grandpa and Ben

On Thursday we went to the beach before we headed home. I love the beach and so did the kids. We didn't expect to stay as long as we did, but they were having so much fun (I was too) that we couldn't bring ourselves to leave. Making that decision though, made it so we didn't get to St. George until 10:00 PM. That was NOT fun. AND we will never drive clear to St. George again, we will definitely be stopping in Vegas!

This was a great trip! I am looking forward to November when we get to go with the Webster family to Disneyland! I know.....how lucky is that! Two trips to Disneyland in one year! We just have to grow some more money and it will be a blast! ;)

My baby is ONE!

I cannot believe that my sweet little Jack is an official one year old! The year went by so fast. It feels like only a few months ago that he was my tiny newborn.....(sigh) I don't want him to grow up!!

We had our families over for a BBQ, cake, and icecream. It was a wild party!

Jack had a great time opening his presents and he especially enjoyed hanging out on his new couch and playing with all of his new toys!

After presents, we headed indoors for cake and icecream. Do you think he enjoyed himself!? It was such a fun night. I really think it was a perfect first birthday!

3 days old

2 months old

6 months old

9 months old

Almost one year old! Isn't he the cutest!?

Jack has been such a happy and pleasant baby. Starting at 4 months old he stopped being a good sleeper, but I am hoping that little "issue" will get resolved soon! Jack loves being outside and will pound on the sliding glass door several times a day so he can go out. Tonight Jack was pounding on the door and Gus was scratching on the door....they both wanted OUT!! Some of his favorite things are balls, phones, blankets (especially his little blankets), his stuffed tiger and stuffed bear, and our dog Gus. Gus is very good with Jack and lets Jack pat him and play with him. Gus and Jack like to share chew toys, dog food, and dog water. They are best friends. He also likes to eat EVERYTHING he sees on the floor or cement, including potato bugs, dirt, rocks, grass, sand, and anything else he spots! He also ADORES his big brothers and is always wanting to be where they are to watch (and destroy) what they are playing or building. Jack is a JOY to have in our family and we all love him so much! Happy Birthday my angel baby!

A weekend with the family and a Moose!

We LOVE going to the cabin with the Webster clan! We always have a blast and the boys love every minute we are there. I realized when I got home I didn't take very many pictures with my camera. I was so mad at myself! I think I was too busy taking pictures with Kathy's AWESOME camera! (Honey.....I want one for Christmas!) But I did get a picture of our little visitor.

It was about 8:30 on Saturday morning and Ben went outside to play on the swings. He quickly ran back in and said, "Mom, I saw a deer!" So I went outside and couldn't believe a momma moose and her baby were having breakfast right behind our cabin!

Soon the baby got tired of eating and decided to take a rest right in front of the steps that lead to the front door. This is a picture of Sam looking out the bathroom window. The momma is standing guard just to the right of her baby.

The baby decided to go rest up the hill a little ways, so the momma looked around and decided she would take a rest too! Denny had just pulled up in his truck after taking a drive and was standing at the bottom of the steps waiting for the moose to leave. Well she had other plans!

Denny ended up climbing the balcony to get to the front door. He said he didn't want to mess with a momma moose (probably a wise choice!) Sam and Ben thought it was really cool at first, but then all they wanted to do was go play on the swing set. So the "coolness" of watching the two moose wore off and Ben kept saying he was going to go scare the moose so they would go away. (Leave it to Ben!) The moose were probably there for an hour to an hour and a half. I thought it was great! I love watching wild animals. They are such amazing creatures.

Jonas and I drove to Smith and Morehouse Reservoir (which is only about a 10 minute drive) with our boys and Davin. They had a fun time throwing rocks into the lake. We all had a rock throwing contest and Davin won! That kid has got an arm on him! At the age of 9 he is already an awesome football player. Sam and Ben really wanted to fish at the lake but we forgot the fishing poles. It was a HUGE bummer because Sam and Ben are ALWAYS asking to go fishing. But they didn't seem to mind because they had so much fun doing other things. They had nonstop fun with their cousins and we enjoyed every minute with all of the family. I was so glad that everyone was able to make it up. We can't wait to go back again!

First Day of School

I cannot believe Sam is in 1st grade! Monday was a short day, so I didn't realize until Tuesday how long it would take for 3:25 to roll around! I missed him so much! I watched the clock all day and kept wondering what he was doing and if he was ok. Ben kept saying that Sam was taking long and I agreed. I was most worried about lunch and if he would be able to do everything, but he came home and said he ate Macaroni and Cheese and that it was yummy, so I guess it was a success! He did say school was fun but that it was long and there were no fun toys there. I am sure he will adjust to the new schedule and the "no toys" like in Kindergarten, but I still worry about how he is doing every day! I hope he makes GOOD friends and GOOD choices while he is in school. Friends are everything when it comes to the school years and I just hope and pray Sam will be influenced for the good! I sure love you Sam and I miss you like crazy when you are gone!

My handsome 1st grader!

Sam and Drew eating donuts from the Primary presidency before the bus comes

Off to school!

Sam acted embarrassed when I took this so I didn't take anymore (although I really wanted to!) He is so cute!

Ben started school on Wednesday and this year we had a tear free first day! He was so excited to go and he just marched right into class like an old time pro. He is so fun to chat with after school. He tells me all about his day and I love it! I have to PRY information out of Sam and I am never very successful with getting much, so it is fun to hear from Ben what he was doing at school. I am so glad he is enjoying preschool this year. He cried every day until after Christmas last year and it was so hard! He is growing up too and is such a handsome little guy!

I was a bad mom and forgot to bring my camera when I picked Ben up on the first day, but I will get some next week and redeem myself! So another year is beginning and we can only hope for the best...Good luck Sam and Ben!

Best week of the summer!

Jonas took a week off of work and instead of going out of town for vacation we stayed at home and did fun things every day. Jonas wasn't sure it was going to be much fun... he was really looking forward to taking our van out on the road. But Jack did so horrible sleeping at the condo that the thought of taking him anywhere to stay over night sounded ummm......miserable!

It turned out to be the best week of the summer! (And Jonas agreed!) We had so much fun being together as a family and making fun memories. I am looking forward to the next time Jonas gets to have a week off and we can have another "stay at home" vacation!

Monday we went to Dinosaur Park in Ogden. The kids loved it! We let Sam and Ben take pictures and we ended up with a picture of every dinosaur in the park. They had a great time being our "picture men." They also spent about an hour in the education center doing puzzles and coloring pictures.

Ben didn't know until after we took this picture that he was in the girl spot. He was not happy about it, but I just couldn't resist posting it.....he looks so funny!

We were posing for Sam :)

Tuesday we went to Lagoon. Of course it was a blast! Isn't Lagoon always fun (even with the massive crowds!? It happened to be buy one get one free week, so to say the least, it was ummmm.....quite busy!) Jonas took Sam and Ben on the log ride and that was the only time I saw them without a smile. They both reported to me that it was not a fun ride!

Jack did great at Lagoon all day. He slept in the stroller three times and for the most part was very happy....especially when he was walking around......yes, my baby is walking!

On Wednesday we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We spent 3 1/2 hours there and my kids will probably say that was their favorite day! They loved playing all the games and trying to get tickets for the prizes. We ended up with almost 1000 tickets, so they each got a prize they were very happy about! I took my camera but the memory card was full so I didn't get to take any pictures. It was a fun night though!

Thursday was our water park day and we ended up at Cherry Hill. We drove to Raging Waters first, but that place was a total madhouse! It was their 2 for 20 day and I guess everyone in the state decided to go there! We were so glad we went to Cherry Hill. We had a great time (even though we didn't know about the blue water slides on the other side of the park until closing. I was so sad we didn't ride on them!) But Sam and Jonas probably went down the tube slide 30 times! Sam LOVED it! Even with his shivering body and chattering teeth, he kept saying....."lets go one more time!"

Ben is holding on for dear life!

Friday it was Jonas' birthday! We had a "rest" day and spent the day at home playing video games (the boys, not mom) then we had a movie night with popcorn and treats. Instead of family coming over we had our own little party with presents, birthday cake, and banana splits.

Yes, this was definitely the best week of the summer!